This is my analysis of existing magazine contents pages for my media portfolio. Different magazines have been researched and their factors and elements looked into in a small amount of depth.

1. House Style (fonts,colours,layout)
The House Style of VIBE magazine employsthe
coloursred,white,andblackthroughoutthe
magazine.Thisincludesthe contentspage,front
cover,and double page spreads.Maintaininga
particularcolourpalette makesthe magazine look
betterwhilstalsoestablishingthe brand.
In a similarmanner,the typographyusedforthe
subheadingsisrecurrentlythe same inorderto
maintainthe magazine’shouse style. Aswe cansee
inthisother contentspage of VIBE
magazine,there are similardesigns
used.Forinstance,bothhave content
downthe sides,large numbersfor
more significantcontent,anda
similarproportionof the page istaken
up bythe use of images.
Imagery
Imagesonthe contentspage take up aroundtwo
thirdsof the A4 page,and grab attentionquite well.
Theyare insquaresand central to the page,with
the textnamingthe contentdownboththe leftand
rightsides. There are twoimages whichlookvery
tidyand controlled,incontrasttothe multitude of
imagesandgraphic featuresusedbyKerrang! The
modelswearstylishclothingwhichisusedtodisplay
theirmusicgenre (R&Band rap) as well asto appeal
to the target audience of the magazine.Theyare
bothphoto shootimageswithmusicstarswhich
may be well knowntopeople whoknowthe
magazine.Therefore,the imagesare likelytosell
the contentof the magazine andpeople are more
likelytoreadthe mainsellingarticles.
DesignBalance
The majorityof the page istakenup by twolarge
imageswhichare framedbytextina small font.The
weightof the page isspreadevenlywhichmeansthat
the contentiseasy togather,read, andunderstand.
Approximatelytwothirdsof the page are takenup by
photos,retainingthe professional outward
appearance.
The GuttenbergDesignPrinciple
The primary optical area is where the main text starts.
This means that the reader will quickly be able to start
looking through the contents of the magazine. From
here, the axis of orientation carries the attention of
the reader across the page to the terminal area, where
the text ends on the other column of the page. Text is
split into two thin columns across either side of the
contents page and the main body is taken up with two
captioned pictures. As the text is larger, we can
assume that the pictures symbolise key articles in this
issue of VIBE. The strong fallow area of the magazine
contains a reiteration of VIBE's symbolic masthead 'V',
which is part of the magazine's house style. Although
there are gaps, the main content of the page is spread
evenly and effectively.
Target audience and need
The target audience of VIBEmagazine ismostly
olderpeople whopreferthe rapand R&B genresof
music.Thisisevidentthroughthe imagery.We can
see twomodelswho clearlydisplayelementsof this
musictype.The hats, sunglasses,andstylishclothing
showthis.The titlesused,whichinclude "Dressedto
kill"and"Style points"seemtoplace emphasison
fashionandstyle.These are attemptstoappeal to
people wholike thistype of content.Notably,itis
likelythatthe people whoare interestedinfashion
are the same people whoare interestedinthe
genresof musicthat VIBEmagazine contains.The
use of blackand white inthe magazine'shouse style
can be seenasstylishtoowhichwouldappeal tothe
magazine'stargetaudience.Ithasa professional
aestheticwhicholderreaderswouldprefer.

2. House Style (fonts,colours,layout)
Kerrang!magazine hasa house style whichutilises
an abundance of blackand white colourcontrast.
The graphic feature withthe page title 'contents'is
inthe topright cornerof the magazine inan
informal font,reflectingthe genre of the magazine
as heavyrock and metal.Variousdifferentfontsare
usedwhichtakesawayfromthe professional
appearance of the magazine,butappealsmore to
the magazine'syoungdemographic.Thisalso
reflectsthe carefree andrecklessnature of the
musical content. Assuch,this
wouldbe lesslikelytosell toolder
people.The layoutisnotsetinstone
and can be seento lookvery
differentweektoweek,evidenthere.
However,some issuesdofollow
similarstructures.
Imagery
The contentspage of Kerrang!magazine generally
containsan abundance of differentimages.Thisisto
appeal totheiryoungertargetaudience.
The imagesgenerallyshowsbandsandclose upsof
artists.The biggestimage onthe page is an image of
a band,where the dominantcolourisblack.The
page usesa large amount of blackon the white
backgroundto create a strikingeffectwhichconveys
the musicgenre.These picturesseemtomostlybe
goodquality,whichwill appealtothe reader.
However,the layoutisquite disorganisedandthe
imagesinthe bottomrightcorner are tiltedslightly
and imposedoverone another.The layeredeffect
emphasisesthe magazine'sinformal approach.
DesignBalance
There isminimal balance inthe designof this
contentspage,textandimagesare spreadaroundthe
page unevenly.However,itappearsasthoughthe
majorityof the page is takenup byimages.
Photographsare usedto leadarticlesinorderto
make themseemmore attractive.The dominantuse
of imageryattractsthe youngertargetaudience.
The GuttenbergDesignPrinciple
Kerrang! magazine has a very busy contents page on a
weekly basis. In order to not waste space, the
magazinedesigners have considered the Guttenberg
Design Principle. This is evident in the way that the
graphic feature which labels the contents pageis in the
strong fallow area of the page. This isn't where a
reader would naturally look for content, so using it in
this manner preserves the stronger space for the
actual magazinecontent. Content is spread widely
across the page, but is numbered in order following
the axis of orientation across the page. Furthermore,
the primary optical area contains a large image of a
band, which we can assume is a key articlein this issue
of Kerrang! The terminal area shows a collage of less
important images relating to another articlein the
magazine. Most content is central to the page.
Target audience and need
Thismagazine usesa numberof differenttypefaces
and graphicfeatures.Whilstlookingless
professionalandtidythanthe contentspagesof
magazineswithanoldertargetaudience likeVIBE's,
thisappealstothe youngand dominantlymale
demographicof Kerrang!There isa wide use of
colour,informal language andimagerythat meets
the target audience of the magazine.Forinstance,
underneaththe page title,itsays'Everythinginthe
mag. Righthere'.
Anotherthingthatyoungreaderswill findappealing
isthe imagerydisplayingpicturesof popularrock
and metal bands.AswithVIBEmagazine,these
photographsworkas an incentive forsomebodyto
readthe contentof the issue.